The Honey Bee Health Coalition announced at the ABF meeting in Reno, NV that it has awarded $40,000 to four innovative projects aimed at improving honey bee nutrition and supporting honey bee and pollinator health. The awards, announced today at the 2018 American Bee Research Conference, are part of the Coalition’s inaugural Bee Nutrition Challenge.

“Supporting honey bee nutrition is essential to achieving and sustaining a healthy population of honey bees. These projects are exactly the types of innovative ideas and initiatives the Coalition was established to support,” said Julie Shapiro, the facilitator of the Honey Bee Health Coalition and a senior policy director at the Keystone Policy Center. “The Coalition is thrilled to support these outstanding projects and looks forward to seeing how they support honey bees.”

The Coalition launched the Bee Nutrition Challenge in August 2017 to find new, innovative ways to improve honey bee forage and nutrition — one of the primary drivers of the challenges honey bees and managed pollinators face throughout North America. The finalists, announced in November, presented their ideas to a panel of honey bee health experts earlier this week.

Monsanto, a member of the Coalition, generously provided support for the prize funds. In addition to the prize, the winners will have full access to subject matter experts and others from the Coalition’s member organizations — including mentoring and advice.

About the Honey Bee Health Coalition

The Honey Bee Health Coalition brings together beekeepers, growers, researchers, government agencies, agribusinesses, conservation groups, manufacturers and brands, and other key partners to improve the health of honey bees and other pollinators. Its mission is to collaboratively implement solutions that will help to achieve a healthy population of honey bees while also supporting healthy populations of native and managed pollinators in the context of productive agricultural systems and thriving ecosystems. The Coalition is focusing on accelerating collective impact to improve honey bee health in four key areas: forage and nutrition, hive management, crop pest management, and communications, outreach, and education.

Through its unique network of private and public sector members, the Coalition fosters new partnerships, leverages existing efforts and expertise, and incubates and implements new solutions. The Coalition brings its diverse resources to bear in promoting communication, coordination, collaboration, and investment to strategically and substantively improve honey bee health in North America. Learn more at honeybeehealthcoalition.org.

The Honey Bee Health Coalition is a project of the Keystone Policy Center, a nationally recognized nonprofit working to find collaborative, actionable solutions to public policy challenges. Keystone operates under a statement of independence to serve all of its project participants. Learn more at keystone.org.